I’ve mentioned in this erotica class I’m taking, I’m interested in expanding my toolbox. As such I’m writing scenes that are in the Glamourist Histories world and specifically the “fade to black” scenes. It’s been very interesting thus far because I’m finding that many of the principles are not that different from writing any other scene. Shanna Germain, our teacher, says that any sex scene should:

Advance the action

Develop character

Entertain the reader

That sounds like pretty much any scene, eh? In fact, I’m reminded of learning to work a new puppet. The principals are the same but the mechanics differ. Once you figure those out, you can get the figure to do what you want. In this case, what I’m finding most interesting is how much I am learning about the characters by writing the scenes that take place in the bedroom.

This assignment is one of the “long” assignments. I could write up to 5000 words and chose to write about Jane’s wedding night. My internal challenge was to stay true to the time period and characters in both mores and language.

This scene is explicit and is for audiences over 18 years of age only. If you are younger than 18, please do not get me in trouble by reading it. Also, please note that this scene or scenes like this will never appear in The Glamourist History novels because it’s not appropriate for the type of book I’m writing.

That said…since this is an exercise, I welcome feedback.

If you choose to comment, I am most interested in reader reactions ie things that confused you, bored you, that you didn’t believe, or that you thought were cool. Stream of consciousness reactions are also welcome. You can also just read it and not admit that you did.

To read “From This Day Forward” you’ll need a password, which is below. One more reminder, that this is an explicit scene.